The Case Of 'Your God Is Weak', Minister Of Religion Yaqut: Don't Hurry In Judging Ferdinand Hutahaean

Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas. (ANTARA/HO-Kemenag)

JAKARTA - Minister of Religion (Menag) Yaqut Cholil Qoumas invites the public to respect the legal process for the SARA nuanced case involving Ferdinand Hutahaean and asks not to rush to judge the person concerned without being based on comprehensive information.

"I invite the public not to rush to judge Ferdinand. We don't know what Ferdinand's real intention was to post about 'Your God Turns Weak'. For that, wait until the legal process is complete so that the problem becomes clear," said Yaqut in a written statement received on Twitter. Jakarta, Antara, Friday, January 7th.

Yaqut thought that Ferdinand's tweet on his Twitter account that had a SARA tone could reflect that he did not understand Islam in depth, including in matters of faith.

Yaqut was of the view that Ferdinand needed religious guidance. For that, he said, clarification (tabayyun) in this case is absolute. The Minister of Religion also hopes that the case that has been handled by the police can run transparently and be completed soon by producing the fairest decision.

Regarding this case, Minister of Religion Yaqut asked the Indonesian people to remain calm and end this polemic on social media. On the other hand, this case is a lesson for all parties to be more careful in using social media.

"Let's use social media by spreading polite content, including religious matters. So that religious harmony will be stronger and stronger," said the Minister of Religion.

Meanwhile, Investigators from the Directorate of Cyber Crime (Dittipidsiber) of the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Police raised the status of hate speech cases containing ethnicity, religion, race, and intergroup (SARA) with reported Ferdinand Hutahaean as an investigation.

"After raising the status to investigation today, January 6, 2022, investigators have issued an SPDP and it has been sent to the Attorney General's Office," said Head of the Public Information Bureau (Karopenmas) of the National Police Public Relations Division, Brigadier General Pol Ahmad Ramadhan.

Ramadhan explained that investigators were again conducting witness examinations, consisting of two general witnesses and five expert witnesses.

Five expert witnesses were questioned, namely linguistic experts, sociologists, religious experts, information and electronic transaction (ITE) experts and criminal experts.

"So there are additional witnesses today, five expert witnesses, two general witnesses. So far, 10 witnesses have been examined in total," said Ramadhan.